The Light Inside Called Courage
by ThyHeartAndSoul
Summary: When Azure, a pony too cowardly to even try befriending anypony, tries doing so for the first time after a long while, he never imagined he would join in the quest with Mane 6 to stop Nightmare Moon. How would he affect the bonds he shares with those he deems as friends? Book 1
1. Starting With A First Impression

_This is my first attempt at making any fanfic stories after reading so many others, so I might not be so good at writing. After weeks of planning and drafting, here's the story's beginning with my own pony OC in it. _

_Let me know what you guys think._

**Chapter 1- Starting with a first impression (The Mare in the Moon)**

"Azure, rise and shine! The sun has already risen!" A gentle voice could be heard in the room, as something under the large blanket on the bed in the room began to stir from the noise.

"…But Mom, it's still too early to get up. Just five more minutes…" a sleepy male voice from under the pile spoke, before yawning and shifted around under the blanket.

"Azure my dear, it's ten in the morning now. Your breakfast will be ready soon. You should come down and eat before it gets cold," said the voice before he heard steps going out of the room.

Slowly sliding off his bed from under the sheets, the colt sleepily drifted his way to the bathroom to freshen up. After a quick rinse of water to wash away the sleep from his eyes, he looked at the mirror to get a good look at himself. His fur, which was as white as the clouds in the sky, was glistening under the light from the bathroom window, while droplets of water were dripping down his face, horn and mane. His sky blue mane and tail were mixed with several streaks of cyan, of which seemed to be radiating dimly. On his flank bore his cutie mark, a cyan emblem in the shape of a six pointed star emblazoned in the centre of a sky blue heart.

Shaking off any remaining droplets on his head, he went downstairs to grab something to eat, all the while following his nose as he caught a whiff of fresh toast in the air. The smell led him down to the dining room, where his breakfast was already laid out.

"Good morning, my little sleepyhead. I have already laid down breakfast on the dining table, so you should start eating while it's hot," said the same voice as a unicorn pony came walking out from the kitchen. He looked up to find his mom, Ivory Painting, wearing an apron and levitating a plate with her magic. His mom was half a head taller than him, had white fur as well and a long straight mane and tail, both were a combination of purple and light pink. Her cutie mark was a piece of canvas with a paint brush in front of it. Her gentle green eyes were staring at the colt and a smile was plastered on her face.

"Ok, I will. Thanks mom…"

He immediately walked to the empty seat at the table and started on his meal. His meal was basically made of a single slice of toast and a glass of milk, a clear sign that he had a small appetite despite his age.

"By the way, do you what today is?" Ivory asked her son who was slowly eating his toast.

He only responded after swallowing the toast in his mouth, "Hmm? What is it?"

"Well, tonight is the Summer Sun Celebration, and it is going to be held here in Ponyville." Ivory replied, watching the surprised expression on her son's face as he almost choked on the piece of toast in his throat.

"Wait, it's tonight?" he said as he tried regaining his composure.

"That's right! Now Azure, I don't want to stay cooped up in your room all day like what you've done since moving here a few weeks ago. I want you to go out have a walk around town. Who knows? You might even make some new friends here."

"Mom, I don't know about that… You know how I act around other ponies… What if…?" He didn't want to continue thinking about it and simply pushed any lingering thoughts out of his head.

"Azure, my dear...You can't hide from the world forever. Eventually, you need to come out of that shell of yours and open up to others. I'm not saying you should go out of your way to make new friends, but it doesn't hurt to get to know other ponies. I have already met some of the ponies in town and they seem friendly to me," She assured him.

Azure, who still wasn't entirely convinced, decided to cease arguing with his mother any longer and just let the matter rest as he walked back to his room. "If you say so, Mom… but don't expect any miracles."

"That's the spirit! Just make sure to meet me down at the town hall when Princess Celestia is seen raising the sun." She told him as he walked back up the stairs to his room.

Going back to his room, Azure sighed before going to his desk to grab a few things to bring with him: a sketchbook, a few pencils and an eraser. Once he placed his items in his saddlebag, he was about to walk out of his room, but turned around when he forgot about something. "Oops… I shouldn't forget to bring this," he said as he levitated a necklace off the desk and placed it over his neck. The centrepiece of the necklace was a hoof-sized silver cross, with a hole etched into it shaped like the outline of his cutie mark. Finally, he went down with his saddlebag on his back, making his way to the front door. Before reaching it, he went over to his mother and gave her a hug. "Mom… I wish Dad would come home to us now… We could have gone the Summer Sun Celebration together as a family."

Ivory just nudged his head a little before stepping back to take a good look at him. "…Don't worry about your father. I'm sure he's doing all right on one of his expeditions… just like how he was back when I first met him… You know… back then, he and I were…"

"Oh Mom..." Azure turned his head to hide his blushing face. She continued watching her son, as if reminiscing something. "I miss him too. But worry not; even if we're all apart, we shall always remain right here." She said while motioning her hoof over his chest, where his heart is.

Quieting her own thoughts, she nudged Azure towards the open door. "Now go out there and make some new friends, all right?" She said with a smile on her face, as she watched her son walk out the doorway. "I'll try, Mom… Well, I'm off now…"

* * *

Leaving his home and walking down the dirt path towards town, he was whistling a quiet tune to himself, when he came across a large orchard of apple trees. _"That's right… when we first came here; we saw that apple orchard too. I wonder what kind of ponies are in charge of this place?"_

That question was soon answered when his eyes noticed a pony with orange fur under one of the apple trees. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the mare had three freckles on each side of her cheeks, a long blonde mane and tail that were both tied up at the end, and that she had a triplet of apples for a cutie mark. He also saw that she was wearing an old western cowboy hat, giving her a unique farm girl look about her.

Azure saw that she was busy kicking the tree she was under for the apples to fall off into the buckets placed around the tree and just stood there staring. However, his presence didn't go unnoticed by the farm pony as she looked towards his direction.

"Howdy there, partner. What can ah do for ya?" She asked with a Southern accent in her voice.

Azure started looking around him, assuming she was speaking to somepony else, but he saw that nopony else was around, he gestured one hoof to himself.

"M-M-Me?"

"Well, 'course ah'm talking to ya! Sure as hay ah ain't talking to the apples here." She said, pointing her hoof at the buckets of apples.

He was a bit surprised. In the past, he was so scared of everypony, resulting in him always trying to hide from most unfamiliar ponies that attempt to speak with him. This usually caused some misunderstandings amongst other ponies in the past; giving others the assumption that he was being unfriendly. But remembering that he promised his Mom that he would attempt to try changing his habits, he felt that this was a good chance as any to do so.

"Sorry… I-I-I assumed you were s-s-speaking to somepony else … I was just h-h-heading to town actually, when I-I-I noticed this apple orchard. A-A-Are you the owner?" he asked.

"It's actually my whole family that owns it. Name's Applejack! Never seen ya before, so ah take it ya new around these parts?" She replied with a cheerful voice and bright smile.

"Not e-e-exactly. My family moved into Ponyville for a while now, but I-I-I haven't gone exploring before, so I d-d-don't really much about it."

"So your family was the one that moved into that house way back there. Well then, let me the first to truly welcome ya to Ponyville, the quietest and, ah reckon, the friendliest lil' town in all of Equestria!"

"T-T-That's nice of you…" Azure said, feeling a little happier from that welcoming from one so honest and friendly to strangers. "Oh, I almost f-f-forgot to introduce myself… I'm Azure…"

"Well, pleased to meetcha, Azure! By the way…here, ah got a lil' something for ya!" As she said that, she kicked the bucket next to her, resulting in an apple popping out of it and on top of her hat. While balancing the apple on her hat, Applejack slowly made her way towards him. When she was right in front of him, she flipped it off her hat and landed on her left hoof that was outstretched toward him.

"O-O-Oh no… I couldn't possibly accept it! You must have w-w-worked hard to grow those apples!" Azure said as he shook his head in response to the mare giving him something for free. "It's nice of ya to think like that, but ya don't have to worry 'bout it. Sweet Apple Acres has got plenty of apples for sellin'! Besides, ah'm giving this to ya as a sign of our new friendship, so don't be shy 'bout accepting it!" She was still smiling while holding out the apple. The way she spoke about friendship also sounded genuinely sincere, and he would felt bad for not responding in kind.

"W-W-Well, if you put it like that…Then I guess it wouldn't f-f-feel right to reject it." As he said so, Azure levitated the apple off her hoof and hovered it over to him. "Well, ah'd better get back to work now. See ya 'round, Azure!" Once he placed the apple into his saddlebag, Applejack turned around and headed back to the tree she was under to continue her work. Azure felt it was time he left as well and continued his way.

At the back of Applejack's mind, her thoughts turned back to that new stallion: _"That new guy was sure acting a little awkward, but ah reckon he's just nervous around other ponies. He doesn't seem quite bad either too… Such thoughtful ponies are hard to come by these today. Oh well, guess ah'd better get around bringing these apples back to the barn."_

* * *

While Azure trotted towards town, he only had one thing on his mind. _Maybe making some friends here isn't so bad after all._


	2. New Faces, New Friends

Apologises if it took too long to get out, but I had a ton of work piled on the past 3 weeks. I hadn't really planned this one out accurately, so forgive me if it feels rushed.

**Chapter 2-New faces, new friends (The Mare in the Moon)**

After a few minutes of walking, he reached the bridge at the edge of town; he stopped in the middle to get a good view of his surroundings from his position. He could see most of the buildings in the town from where he stood. When his family first moved to Ponyville, there wasn't much time to fully explore the town due to moving into their new home being their first priority, so he was actually taking his time to take in what he saw.

The first thing he spotted that stood out like a landmark in the town was the train station that he and his mom had arrived in when they came to live here. Another place that stood out was of course Sweet Apple Acres which he had passed by. Other landmarks like the town square and town hall were located seemingly in the central part of Ponyville. In the distance, he spotted other buildings like a café, a couple of shop tents huddled together to form a sort of marketplace, a schoolhouse, a hospital further away and even an old bell tower at the other edge of town.

When he was about to venture further to observe, he heard a whooshing sound that seemed to be growing louder. He tried looking around to pinpoint the source, only to be suddenly tackled on his side from something very which seemed to have come out from nowhere. The impact caused him to be sent flying across the dirt path.

"Ow! All right, who put that wall there?!" An annoyed voice, which clearly sounded female, yelled out. Azure was still dazed and couldn't quite see who knocked him over due to the dust cloud that was kicked up from him skidding across the ground.

When the dust settled and his eyes finally began to refocus, the first thing he noticed was something that was rainbow-coloured. Upon closer observation, that something was a light blue Pegasus pony with a rainbow-coloured mane and tail. She was apparently rubbing the sore spot on her head where she had hurt herself when she crashed right into him.

"A-a-are you *cough cough* a-a-all right, miss?" Azure asked as he hobbled slightly towards the light blue mare. "Yeah…I'm fine. No biggie there. You okay? You sound all jittery," came her reply. "I-I-I'm fine, all things c-c-considered. As for b-b-being jittery, it's a force of habit so t-t-there's no need to worry. I'm j-j-just glad you weren't hurt too b-b-badly." "Yeah, it's not that bad. I've gotten myself into worse scrapes than this, even that new pony in town called Twilight Sparkle wasn't hurt that badly when I crash-landed on her. Of course, I got out of that one just fine, though I did accidentally mess up her mane after the crash."

"I-I-I see…" He said, raising an eyebrow as he started observing her body for injuries. There were definitely some signs that she made it out of similar situations, such as a few faint bumps and bruises here and there. He started wondering if she should really be so proud about getting out of worse scrapes.

"Speaking of new ponies in town, I haven't seen you around before. Are you new around here?" The mare asked. "Y-Y-Yes, my family just m-m-moved into Ponyville a f-f-few days ago. M-M-My name is Azure, miss…?" He asked in a polite manner.

She gave a confident smirk and replies, "You could just call Rainbow Dash, also known as the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!"

"Wow! I-I-Is that true?" Azure inquired. "Well, I haven't exactly made my mark yet. But once I've proven myself and join the Wonderbolts, ponies all around will see me that way!"

"That s-s-sounds like such an amazing goal!" Azure spoke while imagining this mare becoming one of the best aerial flyers around. "Of course it is! Hey, you wanna see just how fast I really am?" "A-A-Are you sure? Y-Y-You won't mind me at all, Miss Rainbow Dash?" "It's fine. Besides, I can't just say I'm the fastest flyer without proving to everypony that I am, right?"

"I-I-I guess you have a point, M-M-Miss Rainbow Dash." Azure answered, more or less seeing her point. "Oh, stop with the Miss Rainbow Dash thing. I told to just call me Rainbow Dash. Geez, you don't have to be so polite. Back on topic, how about I race from here to that old bell tower and back? Betcha' I can do it in ten seconds flat!"

"O-O-Okay, I'll just stand back a bit and observe Miss Rai…I-I-I mean, Rainbow Dash." Taking a few steps back, he stood there and watched as Rainbow Dash was readying herself for take-off.

"All right then! Start counting down those seconds as soon as I say 'go'. Ready? Go!" She shouted at the top of her voice as she immediately took off, flying towards the bell tower at breakneck speed.

"_Whoa… She's quite the speedster…"_ Azure thought while counting down the seconds to her return. His eyes grew as wide as dinner plates when he saw that Rainbow Dash had already gone around the bell tower and was already making her way back. He noticed that as she was flying, she was leaving behind a vibrant rainbow trail, and it was simply beautiful to watch. _"She's amazing! How is she doing that?"_ He said in his mind as seven seconds were already up. By the time he counted down ten seconds, her hooves were already back on to solid ground, kicking up a smaller cloud of dust.

"What did I tell ya? Ten seconds flat! Well, aren't you impressed?" Rainbow Dash proudly asked. Azure was practically at a loss for words. He just stood there, wide-eyed and mouth gaping, unable to even formulate any words to speak. When she saw the expression on the face, she immediately burst into a fit of laughter.

"You ought to see the look on your face, Azure! It's hilarious!" He immediately regained his composure and tried turning his head to hide his blushing face. "Well, I'll save the embarrassment for another time. I better get back to practicing my flying tricks. We should hang out some time, Azure." Rainbow Dash said before taking off once more to the sky, leaving Azure to his thoughts.

* * *

"…_Well, I sure seem to run into interesting ponies, or maybe it's the other way around…"_ He thought before continuing on his walk into town. While walking along, he noticed he was starting to attract a little attention as some ponies around seemed to be looking in his direction.

When his family first arrived in town, he could even overhear ponies talking about them in their conversations. Naturally, due to being a small settlement, new ponies in town were definitely bound to turn a few heads and spark off new conversation topics. Back then, being as shy as he was, he tried to remain inconspicuous by not making any eye contact while hiding behind his Mom as they strode through town to their new home.

Currently, ponies that saw him gave bright smiles and even waved to him as he walked by. Azure felt uncomfortable becoming the centre of attention and tried avoiding contact by just giving them a quick nod before quickening his pace, all the while trying to hide his reddening face as much as possible with his mane.

While bobbing and weaving through the alleyways of the town, he came across a building which seemed to be strangely decorated building. Unlike most of the buildings, this particular one he was standing next to had chocolate coloured roof with cream white swirls decorating the edge of the roof. At the top of the building stood a cupcake-shaped tower with a few candles sticking out of the top. There was a sign hanging outside the building, on it was a picture of a cupcake. Peeking through the window, he spotted a counter with an assortment of cakes and sweets. _"I guess that means this is a confectionary." _He walked around the back to find a rather peculiar sight.

What came as a surprise to him was that there was an earth pony pushing a large cannon out the backdoor of the shop. The mare, he noticed, had bright pink fur along with a pink mane and tail which almost reminded Azure of cotton candy. On her flank bore a triplet of balloons of alternating blue and yellow colours. He was deep in thought about why she would be lugging around something as big as that cannon.

He was immediately brought to reality when the pink mare said something. "Oh, I wouldn't be standing there if I were you!"

"E-Excuse me? What?" He stuttered, wondering why she was telling him that. "I suggest taking two steps to your left." She spoke with much certainty in her voice. "O-Okay… a little weird though." He muttered under his breath. As soon as Azure moved more than two paces to the left, he heard a shattering noise as something hit the ground behind him. He turned around to see a broken flowerpot on the ground. He looked up to see somepony sticking her head out of a window, looking rather concerned.

"Sorry about that!" She said, waving down at him. He smiled a little and replied, "I-It's all right, no harm done."

Then he turned to the pink mare and asked, "H-How did you k-know…?"

"Oh,my tail was twitching, so I just knew that something was going to fall, and it did. Isn't that strange, Azure? Name's Pinkamena Diane Pie, but you can call me Pinkie Pie." She said with a wide grin across her face.

He was surprised that this mare knew his name without him introducing himself. "H-How did you know m-my name?"

"Silly Azure, I know everypony that lives here in Ponyville, as well as their birthdays! I wouldn't be much of a party pony if I didn't know even that much." She replied while bouncing around him.

"Wait, a p-party pony? Does that means y-you organize parties for everypony here?" He inquired.

"Yup yup yup! I always throw a party for every pony in town, but I don't remember throwing one for you yet. I'm off to throw another party for a new face in town right now. I remember her name was Twilight Sparkle. Wanna come? It's gonna be funna-fun fuun!"

"I-I don't know, are you sure I can? I'm not even f-familiar with almost everypony here."

"Oh Azure, don't be silly. Of course you can! This welcoming party's gonna be so much fun that you'll be having the time of your life with more friends, like me!"

"W-We are friends now?"

"Uh huh! I'm everypony's best friend, so that makes me your best friend too!"

Azure wondered how she would come to that conclusion, but the idea of having a new friend was pretty surreal and ended up not trying to argue against it. He chuckled to himself before continuing, "W-Well, I doubt I can argue w-with that logic. I guess I'll come, if it's a-all right with you."

"Of course it is! This welcoming party's going down at the old library in town! Hey, that rhymes! I'm rhyming without even knowing! Heehee!"

"Wait, did you say l-library? Aren't we s-supposed to be quiet when we're in t-there?"

"That's silly! What kind of welcoming party would it be if it were quiet? Boring, that's what it is! Well, I should really be on my way to set it up before Twilight gets there! See ya later!" And with that, she was gone in a flash, along that oversized cannon she was pushing around.

"_That pink one was certainly different. I doubt I can ever comprehend her..." _Azure pondered over the new pony he just met, but shook his head. _"Best not to think about it and just move along." _

And with that, he moved on.

* * *

Eventually, he came to a stop when he reached another uniquely decorated building. The sign outside read: "Carousel Boutique" and through the window, he could see mannequins wearing various designs of clothing, suggesting that it might be a clothing shop. When he was just about to leave and move on, he accidentally walked straight into a door that was flung open. The sudden impact knocked him out and flat on his back. Unknown to him, a pony with lilac fur and a baby dragon had burst out of the doorway, oblivious to the fact that they had slammed the door into somepony's muzzle and quickly fled from the scene.

"Oh dear, I still wanted to help her look gorgeous in front of the princess…! Hmm, who is this? Oh dear, did the door hit him in the head when she rushed out? I'd better take him inside…"

When Azure came to, he found himself on top of a soft cushion. Fighting against the pain in his muzzle as well as his swirling headache, he tried raising his head up to get a better view of where he was. Looking around at the dressed-up mannequins and racks of clothes, he realized he was actually inside the shop he was standing in front of before getting knocked out.

Azure quickly got up and tried moving around, but immediately felt groggy and the world felt like it was spinning around him. He started staggering left and right before simply falling on his side, accidentally knocking over a mannequin. "What was that? Oh dear, what are you doing? You shouldn't be moving around right now! Hold on, I'll help you back to the couch." A female voice which seemed to be coming from somewhere in the room said as he felt a magical aura lifting him up and back onto the couch.

"T-T-Thank you, Miss…?" Azure spoke, trying to look up as to properly thank his saviour. It turned out his saviour was a unicorn mare with white fur that had a slight tint of blue. On her flank bore her cutie mark, a set of three blue diamonds. Her mane and tail, which were both a dark shade of purple, was well styled and cared for, suggesting that she took great care of her appearance. To him, she was…well, quite a beauty to behold. He couldn't stop from gawking at her. She was looking straight at him with a look of concern in her blue eyes.

"Oh my goodness! How rude of me! My name is Rarity and I am the owner of the Carousel Boutique here, the finest establishment for fashion in Ponyville!" She said while doing a curtsy, before continuing the conversation. "I must say, you took quite a blow to the head, so I brought you in from outside. You should rest here and regain your strength while I tend to my shop. Should you need anything, I'm just close by. By the way, how should I address you?"

"I-I-I'm Azure, miss Rarity."

"Azure? It's such an interesting name. Well then Azure, do take care now while I head back to my work."

"Once a-a-again, thank you Miss Rarity. Oh! M-M-Miss Rarity, where's the saddlebag that I was c-c-carrying?"

"Oh, that reminds me… I left it next to the couch in case you needed something from it. Well darling, I'd best be going now. Again, it was a pleasure to meet you, Azure." She said before turning back and returning to her work.

Azure continued looking in the direction that Rarity left for a while before shifting his attention to his saddlebag. _"…Miss Rarity was certainly generous enough to take care of me. I ought to give her something to show my appreciation. But what can I possibly give her? I only have my sketchbook on me... I guess a drawing will have to do for now. Now, I'm going to need a point of focus to start with..." _His thoughts trailed off as he pulled out his sketchbook and pencil…

After three hours or so, Rarity popped her head into her living room to check in on her new guest. "Azure, it's Rarity here! I trust you were able to rest well…" But the young colt was nowhere to be found. She searched high and low, but turned up empty. _"Hmm… Where in Equestria could he have gotten to in his condition?"_ Rarity wondered before she stumbled upon a rolled up sheet of paper. "Wait a minute, what is this?" She said, unravelling the paper to reveal its contents. What she saw came as a surprise to her.

She expected it to be a note. Instead, it was a drawing about her being hard at work sewing together a dress, all the while being surrounded by mannequins wearing the many dresses she had made before. Despite being done in pencil, she could tell he put in a lot of thought into the details that were sketched in. Her expression on the drawing was one of jubilance, as she looked like she was stitching together a masterpiece, like many of her other works. Overall, she felt that the drawing had depicted her love for fashion at its peak.

Just like how other artists would leave their signature on their work, Azure had left his on the bottom corner of the paper in the form of his cutie mark.

Then she spotted a small note attached to the drawing. On it was a short message which read: _"I'm sorry if I seem rude for leaving without a word, but I didn't want to bother you. I also didn't wish to overstay my welcome here when you are so busy. So as an apology, here's a gift to thank you for your generous hospitality…"_

"Well, this is quite the thank you gift. If I ever get the chance to see him again, I'm going to thank him for this delightful drawing," she said, while looking back at the drawing.

* * *

After leaving the Carousel Boutique, Azure continued to wander through town following his routine of remaining inconspicuous.

Eventually, he found himself standing in front of a large treehouse. The sign outside it read "Golden Oaks Library", so he assumed it had to be the town's library.

It was then he realized he wasn't alone there when he spotted a pony outside of the library. This pony, most likely a mare, had yellow fur, a long mane and tail that were a bright shade of pink and a cutie mark of three butterflies on her flank. The mare, he assumed the pony was female due to her physique, walked out of the library and sat in front of the sign, looking down at the ground. He couldn't really see her face clearly because it was mostly hidden behind her mane.

Due to his nature, he wasn't one to pry into other ponies' business. "Perhaps it's better if I just leave that mare alone. Maybe she wants to be alone anyway…" But something inside was tugging at him to walk over there and speak to that mare. As he got closer, he could see her face a lot clearer now. _"Wow… I didn't notice it, but she's got quite a cute face. But she looks sad though, I wonder why that is?"_

He slowed to a halt before asking her, "Are you all right, miss?"

The mare immediately noticed his presence and tried shifting away slowly. "I'm sorry, w-was I in your way? I'll go away now…" A soft, sweet voice passed from her lips as she backed away from Azure.

"W-Wait! Please don't leave on my a-account. I'm just a stranger here. It's okay, I won't hurt you. I was going to the welcoming party Miss Pinkie Pie was putting together, but then I saw you s-sitting outside. You w-were sitting there looking down, so I felt compelled to c-come over to see if you were okay..." He said as he continued his approach.

At first, he felt that she might immediately jump up and run away if he got closer. But after a long pause, she finally spoke, "I'm sorry, b-but I'm just not used to chatting to most ponies and being around them. I'm much too shy to even speak up in front of others… If Pinkie Pie hadn't insisted, I might not have come here at all… Even so, I still didn't feel like I belong in there, so I came outside..." She said with a deep sense of timidity in her words.

"_She's just like me in those aspects." _He thought before continuing his sentence, "I-If it's all right with you, I-I could stay here and k-keep you company out here. We d-don't have to talk about anything, but I-I'm willing to listen if you do. "

"Y-You would do stay here with me? But I-I thought you wanted to join in the party." She asked in a low voice.

Azure felt awkward about the situation and started scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face, "Yeah… I-I'm okay with that actually. I'm not r-really a socializing pony e-either." Retaining the grin on his face, he extended his leg towards the mare as a sign of friendship.

"Sorry, f-forgot to introduce myself. I'm Azure… miss?"

"… Fluttershy, my name is Fluttershy. P-Pleased to meet you…?" She gingerly reached out and shook hooves with him.

So he sat down next to the mare, placed his saddlebag next to him, and just went on to watch the horizon. For a while, neither side was willing to strike up another conversation as they had no idea what to say. This created a rather awkward atmosphere around them as they felt weird about chatting with one another on common topics, despite having spoken quite a bit earlier. The silence surrounding them continued for quite a while, with the occasional noise from the party going on inside the library.

The silence was broken when Fluttershy finally decide to speak up, "Umm… if you don't mind, c-could I know more about yourself? It's okay if you don't…" He was immediately taken aback from her innocent question, as this is the first time anypony wanted to know about. He believed himself to be nopony special, so he didn't think anypony would take any interest in him. Seeing there would no harm in sharing a bit of his background, he composed himself before starting to speak.

"I-I don't mind, what is it you w-wish to know?"

"Well, I want to know about what…" And they continued to spend the next hour or so just talking about each other's likes, dislikes, hobbies and memorable events, as if they were already the best of friends, though he was listening more to her side of the conversation.

"… Then earlier today, I met Twilight Sparkle, the new pony in town, and her baby dragon assistant Spike. It was the first time I've seen a dragon up close, and I wanted to know more. So he was kind enough to tell me about his life so far. It was really fascinating!"

"Hmm… I guess so…" Azure replied, trying to imagine how meeting a dragon, even a baby one, would be like. He understood only a bare fraction of their lifestyle from reading some books, but never saw one up close before.

Then, Fluttershy popped him an unexpected question, "… Azure, what's your family like?"

He was a bit surprised that she would want to know even that part about him. "You wish to know about my family too?"

"Uh huh… I don't' really live with my family anymore because I wanted to live amongst the animals down on the ground while my family is living on Cloudsdale." Azure noticed that as she said she said so, she started to look a little gloomy.

"_I guess she misses her family a lot…" _

"M-My family moved into Ponyville a few weeks ago, but previously I-I used to live in Canterlot. My mom's a painter, b-but not many know her. My dad's… an explorer of sorts, but h-he's always going on expeditions, s-so he doesn't come home often…"

"T-that's terrible! You mean you rarely see your father at home?" Fluttershy exclaimed.

Azure couldn't help but feel a little sad from hearing her honest opinion. It is true that he rarely sees his dad at home, and he wondered if it were better that his dad would come home more often.

"Umm… Azure?"

He was brought back to reality from hearing Fluttershy's voice, shook his head of those thoughts and just smiled at her. "S-Sorry, I spaced out like that. Returning to t-the question at hoof… It's all right, even though h-he may not be around as often, I will a-always cherish the precious times that he was. My d-dad always got some amazing stories to tell me from his travels, along with any t-trinkets he would bring back from his trips…"

He looked into the direction towards Canterlot and sighed, "But on the d-day we moved to Ponyville, he only came to see us off at the station in Canterlot, he was needed o-on another expedition urgently."

He held up his necklace towards Fluttershy before continuing, "At first, I-I was feeling down when he told us that this new j-journey might not make it home anytime soon. Before we got onto the train to Ponyville, he gave me this necklace to cheer me up. He told me a story about how it once belonged to a brave knight from centuries back, who was unafraid of standing up to fight for what he believed in. He also told me it was meant to symbolize 'Courage beyond measure', and that if I was ever felt afraid, I should imagine myself to be like that knight."

"I-I see…" Fluttershy answered, looking at the pony talking to her. Watching his happy expression as he talked about his father, it was obvious to her that they were both quite close despite the long distance relationship between them.

As they were about to continue their conversation, Azure eventually realized that the sun was going to set. _"Wow, I never realized it was already this late in the evening…" _Turning his back to the library, a familiar pink mare popped her head out of the doorway wearing a party hat and a party horn in her mouth.

"Hey Azure! Hey Fluttershy! Whatcha two doing out here? Aren't you two going to come inside?" Pinkie asked.

He turned back towards Fluttershy, bowed his head and asked, "Miss Fluttershy, would you like to come back to the party?" She turned to him, embarrassed that he was treating her so politely like a gentlecolt in front of Pinkie Pie, putting her in a spot. But she gave him a slight nod before standing up and nervously walking. Azure picked up his saddlebag and followed Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy into the library.

"Well, this is it… I just hope I don't freak out in there…"

* * *

Once they entered the library, Pinkie Pie announced their arrival and quickly brought Azure around to everypony in there. He didn't expect such a big turnout from the townsfolk in welcoming this new pony, this "Twilight Sparkle" that he had hearing about. He was quite nervous about meeting seeing many new faces that he quickly said hello to them before trying to find someplace that felt more secluded. Squeezing through the crowd, he was able to able to make it to the staircase on the other side of the library. As soon as he had put down his saddlebag on the floor, he heard a voice from behind him.

"Well howdy there, Azure! Fancy meetin' ya here!" He turned around to find all five ponies he had met earlier in the day right in front of him.

"H-Hello, Miss Applejack, Miss Rarity, Miss Rain… I-I mean, Rainbow Dash. Do you all k-know each other?" Azure inquired.

Rarity was the first one to answer. "Indeed we do, darling. We've lived in Ponyville for so long now, we practically know everypony here. With the exception of you and Twilight Sparkle, of course. By the way, it was rude of you to leave without saying anything." Her expression changed into one of slight annoyance.

"I-I apologize that I l-left like that. But I…" Azure said, bowed his head towards her apologetically.

Her expression softened into one of understanding before saying, "But I guess you had your reasons, and you made up for that mistake with that delightful sketech of yours. So I'll forgive you this time, dear. Just don't be so scared to say anything next time, others may find it to be quite rude."

"I'll keep that in m-mind, Miss Rarity." Azure replied, slowly lifting his head.

"Alrighty then! Now that that's settled… It's time to PAARRTTYYY!" Pinkie exclaimed at the top of her lungs before firing off a big round of confetti from the large cannon she had literally pulled out from nowhere.

"H-How did she j-just…?" Azure was almost at a loss for words to describe what he just saw.

"That's Pinkie for ya, try not to think bout' it." Applejack responded, watching Pinkie bouncing back into the crowd. "Great! Now what are we supposed to do?! Anypony here got ideas?" Rainbow Dash asked the remaining five.

"If n-nopony minds, I'm j-just going to look for a q-quieter place to settle down… and p-perhaps do a little drawing…" Azure nervously said to them.

"Drawing?! Are you serious, Azure?! This is a PARTY! And you want to do something boring as that?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Her sudden outburst scared Fluttershy, forcing her to cower under her mane, and frightened Azure into a temporary state of shock. He stumbled back a bit and tripped over his saddlebag, causing him to fall flat on his back.

"RAINBOW DASH! How could you?! You not only startled Azure into silence, you even scared poor Fluttershy here!" Rarity yelled at Rainbow Dash in retaliation, while comforting Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground, looking a little guilty at the mess she had made.

"I-I'm sorry, Azure… And to you too, Fluttershy. I shouldn't have yelled at you two like that…" She said apologetically, looking down at the wooden planks. Fluttershy peeked out from under her mane and meekly spoke. "I-It's all right, I know you didn't m-mean for that to happen… And I believe Azure w-would agree with me as well…"

At the mention of his name, Azure awoke from his shock and quickly scrambled back to his hooves. "T-That's right… I'm the one at fault h-here. If I h-hadn't say anything, n-none of that would've h-happened …" He added in, trying to hide his face with his mane as it was red with embarrassment.

"Darling, nopony here's going to fault you. Speaking your mind like that isn't a bad thing. Am I right, girls? " Rarity walked over to him and patted him lightly on the back. The others all nodded in agreement.

"I g-guess so… But I feel more c-comfortable just doing some s-sketching… All of you c-can go on and have fun w-without me."

"If you say so, Azure…" Rainbow Dash replied. And with that, the mares left him there and went back into the crowd, with the exception of one. "D-Do you mind if I'm here? I wanted to see some of your work…" Fluttershy asked him.

"E-Errm… I guess it w-wouldn't hurt to show y-you, but please d-don't laugh at them… I don't think I'm that g-good an artist…" Azure said, pulling out a thin stack of paper from his bag and passing it to her gently. Mentally blocking out the noise, he went onto sketching the scene before him. It was kind of hard for him to draw the entire scene because everypony was moving around a lot, so he decided to pick out specific events to focus on.

For the next few hours, he managed to get quite a bit of sketching done. He took this chance to look away from his work to see what was happening. Pinkie looked like she had been going around entertaining the crowd with an amazing juggling trick, while Applejack and Rarity were standing on the sidelines, both taking a bite of some cupcakes. Rainbow Dash had been playing a game of limbo with another group of ponies. As for Fluttershy, she was still looking through his work with wide eyes, occasionally going 'Oh… my'. He thought, _"I'm guessing she either finds it surprisingly terrible or surprisingly good…"_ That was when he noticed the crowd was thin out. Most of the ponies had already left the library, leaving just him and the five other mares.

"_What time is it?"_ He wondered, yawning after what felt like ages. He finally turned his head to the wooden wall clock... And realized it was already four in the morning! _"Was I so focused on sketching that I managed to stay awake for the last ten hours doing so? It felt more like 3 hours of work... Never knew I had that kind of stamina."_ He was thinking before being tapped on his right foreleg.

"Hey Azure! Wanna come with us to Town Hall now? Princess Celestia should be arriving soon, and some of us need to prepare for her arrival." Applejack said, standing next to him with a smile. "S-Sure, but then don't w-we need to clean this p-place…? I-I mean, it is a library a-after all." Azure asked the farmer pony.

"Ya don't hafta worry bout' it! We got here the best one-mare cleaning crew in all Ponyville! Ain't that right, Pinkie?" She called over to the pink mare in the corner. "Uh huh! I'll have this place cleaned up before you can say lickity-split!" Pinkie shouted over before zooming around.

"All done!" And before he realized it, the place was completely clear of any mess, not even a speck of crumbs. Even all his sketches were neatly packed inside his bag, along with all his other things. He was amazed at how she managed to pull that off so quickly and was about to ask her about it, but remember what Applejack told him earlier about questioning Pinkie.

"All right! Let's get to it then!" Applejack announced, leading everypony out of the library. Azure was walking beside Fluttershy as they headed towards Town Hall, and was curious to know what she thought about his work. "I-I don't know what else to say, except that you have quite the drawing talent." Fluttershy softly said, feeling a little awkward at giving praise to others for the first time.

"W-Well, I'm glad you liked it. But I s-still feel something's missing in all of t-them…" Azure said, looking a little sad and even more frustrated at his lack of talent in creating great art. Rarity had been listening in on their conversation and decided to cheer him up a little. "Don't worry about it. If you take your time to figure it out, you'll get it eventually."

"I g-guess… Thank you, Miss Rarity." He felt a little better after hearing that.

"Not that I mind you being so polite, but you can leave out the 'miss' when addressing all of us. We're all friends here after all!" Rarity continued.

"That's right, Azure! Ya don't hafta to keep calling us that. We ain't that old yet…" Applejack added in. Thinking about for a while, he nodded in agreement and said, "O-Okay, but it may take t-time to get used to having f-friends."

At the mention of that, Pinkie gasped. "You mean you didn't even have one friend before coming here?! That's horrible!" She exclaimed as she turned towards Azure.

"Well… if y-you say like that, it w-would be…" He replied before getting cut off by Rainbow Dash. "Hey look! We're already here! Let's hurry and get inside." The mares all bid him farewell before going off on their routine, leaving him alone at the entrance.

"Azure! Over here!" A familiar called out as somepony was trying to get his attention by waving her foreleg. He finally noticed his mom standing near one of windows and trotted towards her. As soon as he reached her, Ivory gave him a big hug before she spoke. "Well Azure, I see you've stopped trying to hide your face from everypony here. Did something good happen?" Ivory asked her son.

Azure thought about for a while, _"Mom's right, I don't feel that shy anymore. It's like I've gotten a little braver after making some friends."_ He finally gave her a response, "I guess so, Mom. I-I took your advice and made some new friends here…"

"That's wonderful news! I'd loved to meet them! Are they here?" Ivory asked, her eyes glancing across the crowd. "Yes, they are… But they might be busy getting ready for the princess's arrival." He told her. "Oh, all right then! Let's wait till after the event is over to introduce me to them." She turned her head to face the front as the town mayor came out on stage.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor in ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the summer sun celebration!" The mayor announced.

Everypony in the room began to cheer at this point.

"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year, and now… it is my great pleasure to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony that gives us the sun and the moon, each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!"

The curtains opened… only to reveal darkness on an empty spotlight. Every pony there gasped and some began whispering amongst themselves.

"Remain calm, everypony. There must be a reasonable explanation…" The mayor explained.

However, Azure felt that something was definitely amiss…

Suddenly, he saw Pinkie Pie jumping and saying excitedly, "Ooh! Ooh! I love guessing games! Is she hiding?" She looked around, clueless about the current situation. Rarity had come out of the area behind the curtains stood and shouted in horror, "She's gone!" Everypony then immediately gasped and started to look worried.

Pinkie went on to cry out, "Ooooh… she's GOOOD!" Despite the excitement in her voice, her expression changed from one of glee into one of sheer fright and screamed when a mist of darkness appeared on the upper balcony.

Standing there was a large and dark pony surrounded by dark mist, with a fur coat as black as a starless night sky. She looked over all of them and spoke in a proud and cruel voice. But while everypony else was focused on the dark being before, Azure could hear another voice speaking. It sounded similar to that of the dark figure before them, but less terrifying and sounded rather sad and faint.

(To differentiate between the two, their speech has been split with the tall dark pony's words have been written in bold)

"**Oh. My beloved subjects, it's been so long since I've seen your oh so precious sun loving faces…**/ Oh… my beloved subjects, how I have long to see you…"

"What did you do with our princess?" It was Rainbow Dash who cried out. She tried to charge at the night pony but was held back by Applejack.

The dark pony laughed and said, "**Why? Am I not royal enough for you?**" Her tone immediately shifted. "**Don't you know who I am? **/ Have you all of you forgotten me?"

The pink pony again said, "Ooh. Ooh! More guessing games! Ummmm… HOKEY SMOKES! How bout QUEEN MINNIE? No. BLACK SNOOTY! BLACK SNOO- "Applejack stuffed her mouth with apples before she could aggravate the situation further.

"**Does my crown no longer count after I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? **/ Do none of you care that your princess has returned?" She stated as she frightened Fluttershy who had been directing a flock of songbirds earlier.

Her eyes shifted to the pony from the beauty shop and continued her speech. "**Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs? **/ Why? Do none of you relish in the night I had once brought?"

However, the dark pony's speech was interrupted by another pony. The pony who spoke up was a unicorn who had lilac coloured fur and horn, a slightly dark purple mane and tail with two streaks of violet and pink. On her flank bore a pink six-pointed star with five smaller white stars around it "I did! And I know who you are...! You're the Mare in the moon! Nightmare Moon!"

Everypony gasped again, this time in terror.

"**Well well well!**" Nightmare Moon said. "**Somepony who remembers me! Then you also know why I am here! **/ You remember who I am…? If you can hear me, please…"

The pony spoke, "You're here to…" She hesitated. "to…" She gulped.

Nightmare Moon laughed once again and announced, "**Remember this day little ponies, for it is your last… from this moment forth… the night will last FOREVER! **/ I didn't wish for this to happen, so somepony… anypony… please stop me…" The distraught voice fell silent as the evil one laughed manically after, as shots of thunder boomed and lightning flashed above her.

Azure stood in disbelief. Bringing about eternal night? And was he imagining it, or did it also sound like she was crying out for help?


End file.
